Today we’re off to Wales to visit Alan Challoner’s garden.
I have a semi-woodland garden in Anglesey, and it is almost always giving me flowers no matter the time of year.
This year there has been a tremendous display of old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba, Zones 4–8). Like other members of the Clematis genus, old man’s beard (or traveler’s joy) climbs over other plants using its leaf stalks and flower stalks. The leaves are not unlike the familiar garden forms of clematis. The leaf stalks entwine around any convenient structure in their vicinity and then lignify (become woody). It has now grown to a prodigious length—high into the trees and down the hedge along the roadside.
As we get into autumn, I thought you might like to see a late rose flower, a plant that I have grown from a cutting taken from a hybrid tea rose. It is now in its third year, and this is its second blooming. As soon as I saw these two flowers up against each other, one a bit bigger than the other, I thought of a mother and daughter having a kiss before darkness and bedtime.
In spring, the weigela (Weigela florida, Zones 4–8) is lavish with pink flowers.
Spring flowers are popping up amid the lawn.
Daffodils (Narcissus hybrids, Zones 3–8) are growing here and there on the lawn.
Numerous clumps of snowdrops (Galanthus sp., Zones 3–7) in bloom mark the earliest sign of spring.
Later in the season, the garden is lush and full of green.
A golden chain tree (Laburnum, Zones 5–7) drips with yellow flowers.
The old-fashioned rose ‘Rambling Rector’ (Zones 5–9) lives up to its name, rambling over the garden with masses of fragrant white flowers.
Another rambling rose, ‘American Pillar’, has bright pink blooms.
Comments
Well done, Alan! Very cool whimsical vibe to the garden.
That was indeed a true treat to see your garden and grounds. Thank you ever so much for sharing it.
Delightful. Peaceful and naturally pretty .
Great that you have flowers year round !
I love seeing gardens in other countries. Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful flowering plants! Just wondering what is your average low temperature in winter.
Lovely to visit your garden in Wales while eating my breakfast. It's always interesting to see gardens in places different from mine, what's similar, what's different. Thank you for sharing!
Alan, your gardens and commentary are quite lovely. I appreciate the way you have allowed your plants to behave in their natural way rather than tightly forcing them into a 'too small' space or cutting them into a more formal shape.
Just beautiful. I really like the climbers clambering around going where they want to without the gardener's restraints. So many times you see them pruned and tightly bound up to trellises, fences or arches where they still look lovely but not always natural.
Love your garden! The naturalized spring bulbs and that huge clematis - just gorgeous!
Love the lawn with all the daffodils. Been trying to replicate something similar so I know it’s not as easy to do as it looks.
Such a pretty established old garden...I can't wait until my young garden gets mature like yours.
I was so curious about the interesting building in your garden in the photo that talks about the Snowdrops, it looks so English and mysterious with the little window and very established thick vines.
Very pretty, poetic description of your two roses kissing, you see with the eyes of a poet.
In the photo talking about "rose ‘Rambling Rector’" I would love to know the name of those pretty lavender flowers.
Those words and thoughts, looking at 2 beautiful roses,"a mother and daughter having a kiss before darkness and bedtime" could only come from the UK! How delightful, how charming!!! Just like your garden! Thank you for taking the time to share with us, particularly when so many of us in the U.S. are putting our garden beds to rest for the winter months ahead.
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